The Myth of the Lost Cause

Why the South Fought the Civil War and Why the North Won

Edward H. Bonekemper

• Publisher: Regnery History
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781621574545
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621574736
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

History isn't always written by the winners... Twenty-first-century controversies over Confederate monuments attest to the enduring significance of our nineteenth-century Civil War. As Lincoln knew, the meaning of America itself depends on how we understand that fratricidal struggle. As soon as the Army of Northern Virginia laid down its arms at Appomattox, a group of Confederate officers took up their pens to refight the war for the history books. They composed a new narrative—the Myth of the Lost Cause—seeking to ennoble the sacrifice and defeat of the South, which popular historians in the twentieth century would perpetuate. Unfortunately, that myth would distort the historical imagination of Americans, north and south, for 150 years. In this balanced and compelling correction of the historical record, EdwardBonekemper helps us understand the Myth of the Lost Cause and its effect on the social and political controversies that are still important to all Americans.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Prologue
• Chapter One: The Myth of the Lost Cause
• Chapter Two: What was the Nature of Slavery in 1861 and was it a Dying Institution?
• Chapter Three: Was Slavery the Primary Cause of Secession and the Civil War?
• Chapter Four: Could the South have Won the Civil War?
• Chapter Five: Was Robert E. Lee One of the Greatest Generals in History?
• Chapter Six: Did James Longstreet Lose the Battle of Gettysburg and thus the War?
• Chapter Seven: Did Ulysses S. Grant Win the Civil War Simply by Brute Force and Superior Numbers?
• Chapter Eight: Did the North Win by Waging “Total War”?
• Chapter Nine: Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index